A CYCLIST has been awarded nearly £5,000 compensation after his dream of riding a stage of the Tour de France was shattered in a road accident.

Steven Rhodes 46, was out training with a friend for the ‘Etape du Tour’ (the public leg of the Tour de France) when he was hit by a car on a Chorley roundabout.

Mr Rhodes said: “I wouldn’t have minded but I had a bright yellow top on. I went straight over the bonnet and roof of the car.

“The next day I felt as if I had been in the wars, and I knew my dream of taking part in the 2012 Tour de France was over.”

Mr Rhodes asked Radcliffe personal injury firm CK Claims to help him get his money back. They arranged for a specialist engineer to look at his bike, arranged treatment with a local physiotherapist, and eventually secured compensation of £4,828.

The accident happened less than two miles from where Tour de France champion and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins was involved in an accident last month.